Monday, January 30, 2017

Well, you could keep them in the house of course.We can't leave the door open in summer, or the girls will try to come visit me.

But if you don't want to keep them in the house,

there is another way.

We will soon be getting our spring chicks as I know many others will also.

Each year I read about how people can't keep their chickens out of the garden.

I actually let the chickens in the garden.

They are great at finding those awful little slugs and bugs.

My mom had told me this before, and I wondered if it was one of those

"silly Mom" things or if it worked.

I listened to my mother, and she was right! (It's okay. I already told her she was right:)

I don't feed the chickens any kitchen scraps.

I haven't fed them any sort of scraps from day one.So in essence haven't trained them to eat/like those items.

They start out under the heat lamp eating an organic chick starter.

(I prefer non-medicated; why medicate healthy chicks?)

Once they out grow their brooder box, they get to go to the coop.

They have feathers by now and just get the heat lamp at night.

We are in the mountains and can get snow and/or freezing temps until June.

After a few days, maybe a week in the coop, once they have "settled in" and know where home is, they get to be free during the days.

They still have the option of their feed which after the first bag of starter crumble gets switched to layer pellets (still organic, non-med.)

They don't waste pellets like they do crumble.

However, as spring emerges, they eat less and less feed.

They begin finding those juicy yummy bugs and slugs.

Chickens actually prefer meat to veggies if given the choice.

Chickens are not vegetarians.

The only time I really have to watch them is when I am still planting.

They like to scratch in the freshly turned soil.

By the time they are to this stage, most of the garden is in anyways

so it's a very short-lived problem.

The only sort of kitchen waste we share with them is when we butcher.

The dog usually has his fill, and the chickens tend to take over

the cleaning of the bones.

They will do an amazing job of getting any remaining meat off of the bones.

In times past, many folks kept a butcher pig.

In addition to whey, this is where the kitchen scraps went.

We aren't set up for pigs, but have certainly considered it.

It might be something we do in a year or so, just not this year.

This year, we will again add our kitchen scraps to the compost bin.

They are still valuable, but being used in a different way. The only caveat to this is if you have adult hens that like to feast in your garden, they will teach the chicks/pullets where your garden is andwhich are the tastiest treats.So this really only works if you are starting from scratch with new birds.

Now if we can figure out how to keep the chickens out of the house?

Just as a little side note: This year I may wait until the beginning of March to get chicks. As you can see by the past two posts, we've had an exceptional winter and still have a good deal of snow on the ground.I know in other areas, it's been mild so am sharing this before most folks are getting their chicks (hopefully.)

He asked that I contact his boss and let him know that he would be late.

There was an avalanche right at the end of our property.

It's was about 6 ft. so he spent an hour digging through it with a shovel

so that a rig could get through.

We said our morning good-by's for a second time.

By this time it was almost time for me to go so I went out to start the bronco.

I came back in to get my lunch, stoke the fire, make sure lights were off, and all those other little pre-leaving the house for the day tasks,

when in walks Mr. LB with the keys to my rig.

He handed them to me and said, "We're not going anywhere."

The avalanche he dug through was just a little teaser.

Mr. LB standing on the first one we came to.

From on top of the first one looking down the "road."

We called the county road crew

(actually co. sheriff since road crew wasn't awake yet.)We also called our employers to let them know we wouldn't be in.Then we went to take a look.

Road crew worked on the roads all day

Many more slid in the time they were up here.

By the end of the day, they had the road "passable."

Then about an hour after they left,

the big-boy slid.

So again on Tuesday, we were stuck.

They broke through it just before noon.

It was at least 14 ft. high.

Just being on the road to get the picture was eery.

As they were breaking through.We later discovered there were a couple more the other side of this one.We just couldn't see them.

Just for scale.

The thing is. . .

other than not being able to go to work, we were just fine.

We manage our home/pantry etc. in such a way

that we had plenty to eat, kept the fire going, and were safe.

(Forgive me, please. "Manage" sounds so formal, but I don't really know another word that encompasses "just the way we live.")

We aren't "preppers" by any means.

But we do live in a more traditional way.

If we were trapped for an extended period of time,

we would eventually have run out of milk and cheese.

Our meals might have become increasingly "boring," but we would still eat.

For us, living where we live, living the way we live is important.

For others, living in other areas, with other possibilities,

perhaps it doesn't make much sense.

But being "trapped" is an odd feeling.

Knowing that as long as we stayed home we would be okay

was an enormous comfort.

On a little side note:The evening of the larger avalanche was a neighbor's birthday.They had a party scheduled, but only the half dozen householdsabove the snow were able to attend.We said a prayer of thanks for our safety, the enormous amount of foodwe had there to eat, and the company of neighbors.Two days later they spent the entire day on our road.We now have huge walls of snow on either side of the road,but we can pass through pretty easily.Sometimes, the wisest thing to do is simply stay put, eat stew, and be safe.

In the mean time, we will just keep shoveling snow.This picture is from last week - looking out our kitchen window.We've had more snow since then.Now we can't even see the car.This weekend, we will probably hitch up to it and pull it outsince that can't be good for it.

There is a place at the water's edge where the pixies dance, the deer graze and a bossy chipmunk chatters orders from a nearby pine. Here I am, appreciating the quality and craftsmanship of many old items and attempting to live as naturally, healthily, and sustainably as possible. Some folks might call that old-fashioned; we call it responsible.

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